By Olivia Hickey
On September 16, the University of Connecticut’s Student Union Board of Governors (SUBOG) hosted a live cooking demonstration and a Q&A session with Emmy nominated actor, author and model Antoni Porowski, who is well-known for his role in Netflix’s Queer Eye.
Students were able to submit questions before the event and follow the demonstration live by using ingredients from a supply list posted to SUBOG’s Instagram. SUBOG estimates the event had over 300 viewers in attendance, not including those sharing a device, making it one of their most attended events.
For the event, Porowski cooked eggs. A food he claims to have been obsessed with since childhood.
“They’re cheap, they’re high in protein, don’t throw out those yolks because they’re packed with Omega-3’s,” he said during the demonstration. “Very few things other than the current situation of the world piss me off more than egg white omelets because they’re just flavorless.”
Porowski said he believes it’s important for cooks to master basic recipes before attempting more complex dishes.
“Before you learn how to evolve a recipe, I think it’s kind of important to go back to the basics and learn how to make something in its purest form.”
While cracking yolks and jokes Porowski made light conversation throughout the demonstration. He shared tips including using a colander to crack your eggs to avoid shells falling in the bowl.
“I got a little piece of shell, see it’s stuck in there so now I don’t have to worry about crunching on extra unnecessary calcium.”
After topping his eggs with seasonings and controversially ketchup, Porowski answered some questions submitted by students. He said during the session that he got his love of cooking from his family, even though he wasn’t actually allowed to cook
“I grew up in a very matriarchal household to put it lightly and I wasn’t allowed to cook so I would watch my mother cook from the other side of the kitchen island,” he said. “You shut up, watch the pro, learn from them and then go do it yourself.”
Porowski also discussed his experience on Queer Eye and how it’s changed his view of the world.
“When you get to know someone personally and get to know where they’re coming from and what their perspectives are, it‘s a lot harder to be intolerant,”he said. “It doesn’t mean you have to accept some of the things that they stand for and you definitely can and should disagree if you do, but I think it’s allowed me to have access to diversity of thought.”
Porowski ended the event with this advice: vote, and wear a mask
“If you’re not going to wear it for yourself, just think about someone in your life who’s immunocompromised, somebody who’s elderly, who’s not doing well and just wear it for them.”
Kimoya Wallace, the SUBOG special events chairwoman and avid fan of queer eye, said she was nervous about holding the event online.
“Since it’s virtual and people don’t have a place to say go to attend the event, it’s very easy to forget about it or decide not to turn on your laptop,” she said. “So I was a little bit nervous about attendance.”
But the event had a positive response from the UConn community.
Christine Jorquera is a member of the major weekends committee and was the moderator for the event. She admitted to looking up to the star and being nervous for the upcoming event, but she described the chat that event coordinators had with Antoni pre-event as “calming.”
“You can really tell just how genuine and present he is with his interactions with people and that ability to tell a story, I think, was very beautiful throughout the interview,” she said. “He was definitely reassuring, calmed my nerves and helped ease me into the interview so that was really awesome.”
Porowski’s cookbooks are available now. For information on upcoming events, students can follow SUBOG on Instagram @subogatuconn.